Hong Kong Car-Free Day Central-North Point Cycling Parade

200 cyclists hit the road to Save the Arctic

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Press release - 2013-09-15

Hong Kong - Nearly 200 cyclists came out today in support of saving the Arctic, making a round-trip between Central and North Point. Meanwhile three Greenpeace activists and two volunteers dressed as polar bears unfurled a banner reading 'ARCTIC OIL? SHELL NO!' at a Shell gas station in North Point. The mass bike ride is part of Greenpeace International's global day of action to protect the fragile Arctic region from oil drilling. Across the globe on this date thousands of people have taken out their bikes and hit the road in 31 different countries and 75 cities across the globe.

Greenpeace senior campaigner Prentice Koo said: “The Arctic is not only a place of breathtaking beauty and home to unique creatures like the polar bear, it also plays a crucial role in regulating the planet’s climate by acting as a giant air conditioner. If we allow our global addiction to dirty fossil fuels destroy this region, every person and creature is going to pay the price as our planet continues to warm, sea levels rise, and the weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable.”

Shell has invested $5 billion Euro (approximately $51 billion HKD) in its Arctic program, but after a series of embarrassing mishaps — including a grounded rig and a fire on a drill ship — it was forced to abandon its plans to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska this summer. But the company has now signed a deal with Russian state-owned oil giant Gazprom to drill in the Russian Arctic, a region where regulation is lax and accidents are commonplace.

"Greenpeace demands that the international community make the Arctic an internationally protected region, so companies like Shell are prevented from playing a reckless game of Russian roulette with this vitally important region, and our climate," Koo added.

At the same time, a giant polar bear puppet named Aurora, will lead a parade to Shell’s global headquarters in London, UK, hauled by 30 volunteers and operated by 15 puppeteers. The double-decker bus sized bear, weighing around three tonnes, will carry the names of almost four million people who have already signed up to protect the Arctic at www.savethearctic.org.

In the space of one year, Greenpeace's Save the Arctic campaign has seen millions of people around the world join a call out for Arctic protection. The Arctic is under threat from climate change, plans for unprecedented drilling by oil giants in the region.